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As we continue our look at the Book of Jude, let me remind you that Jude calls Christians to contend for the faith with a servant’s attitude and with an all-in attitude that will not give in even when the going gets tough.
What exactly are we contending for? Jude calls it “…the faith once for all entrusted to the saints” (Jude 3).
It might be helpful to look at this phrase in the AMPC: “…to contend for the faith which was once for all handed down to the saints—the faith which is that sum of Christian belief which was delivered verbally to the holy people of God.”
During the Reformation there was a phrase that became prominent: “Sola Scriptura” which means the Bible is our authoritative guide for everything in our lives. Jesus addressed the religious leaders who added to the Scripture (Mark 7:8-9, 13), and here Jude is now addressing those who took away from Scripture (Jude 4).
We have to be so careful here. Contending doesn’t meet fighting for our traditions, nor does it mean compromising with the whims of culture. Jesus told us to preach the Gospel, not to argue nor give in to avoid problems. Jude says this Gospel message have been entrusted to us.
Ronald Reagan was talking about the freedoms in the United States of America, but his warning sounds like it originated with Jude: “Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn’t pass it to our children in the bloodstream. It must be fought for, protected, and handed on for them to do the same, or one day we will spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it was once like in the United States where men were free.”
We don’t want to spend our sunset years telling our children and grandchildren how it used to be when we contended for the faith that was entrusted to us, but we want to tell them how we are still winsomely and consistently contending for this faith still to this day!
So how do we contend for this faith the right way?
(1) Study God’s Word and then study it some more. I like what Charles Spurgeon said of John Bunyan,“Why, this man is a living Bible! Prick him anywhere—his blood is Bibline, the very essence of the Bible flows from him. He cannot speak without quoting a text, for his very soul is full of the Word of God. I commend his example to you, beloved.” May that be said of us!
James encourages Christians to receive God’s Word in their hearts. The Amplified Bible says it this way: “the Word which [is] implanted and rooted in your hearts.” But I really love the KJV rendering that calls it “the engrafted word.” We study God’s Word to us so that it can become a living, breathing part of who we are—the very fabric of our thoughts and attitudes.
(2) Wrestle with the whole counsel of Scripture. This is hard work, but it is the most rewarding work of all! Don’t stick with only passages of the Bible that are enjoyable to read, but consider the whole counsel of God’s Word. Ask yourself things like: What did it mean then? What does it mean now? What does it mean for me? Where can I cross-reference this with another place in Scripture?
(3) Make your “No” merciful, peaceful, and loving. This is how Jude calls us to live in v. 2, and the apostle Peter said something very similar in 1 Peter 4:1-5.
(4) Make your “Yes” compelling and attractive. Remember that we want to be known more for what we’re for, not for what we’re against. Again, Peter sounds this same note in 1 Peter 3:13-16.
As saints entrusted with the faith, we have to learn to contend for this faith without becoming contentious and without compromising the truth.
If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series Earnestly Contend, you can find them all here.
Christian saints have the joyful privilege of being able to step up for fellow saints. It’s hard work at times, but if we remember who those saints really are, it’s never heavy work!
“A people that values its privileges above its principles soon loses both.” —Dwight D. Eisenhower
“[Jesus] draws us to Himself daily, to seek His beauty in Scripture, dwell before the beauty of His glorious face, bask in the beauty of His heavenly throne room, and become, increasingly, His beauty in and to the world. No matter how long we’ve known Him or how careful and earnest our study of Him has been, His fresh beauty remains fresher still.” —T.M. Moore
“Christianity is always out of fashion because it is always sane; and all fashions are mild insanities.” —G.K. Chesterton
Replace the “sandwich method” of feedback with this: (1) Tell the person why you are giving them feedback, (2) Give them the feedback, and (3) End with a belief statement.
G.K. Chesterton penned these words over a century ago. If they were true then, imagine how much more so they are now: “These are the days when the Christian is expected to praise every creed except his own.”
“The only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle.” —Steve Jobs
Epaphras literally put his life on the line to tell others about Jesus (Colossians 1:7; Philemon 23) and then tenaciously wrestled in prayer for the saints he led to the Lord (Colossians 4:12). That is a life worth emulating!
Sarah Young uses passages of Scripture and writes in the first-person voice as though Jesus Himself was speaking to us. “When you bring Me prayer requests, lay out your concerns before Me. Speak to Me candidly; pour out your heart. Then thank Me for the answers that I have set into motion long before you can discern results. When your requests come to mind again, continue to thank Me for the answers that are on the way. If you keep on stating your concerns to Me, you will live in a state of tension. When you thank Me for how I am answering your prayers, your mind-set becomes much more positive. Thankful prayers keep your focus on My Presence and My promises.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The letters we’ve looked at so far—B, A, S, and I—are bringing about greater fruitfulness and joy-fullness in our lives, which is then enhancing our personal testimony. So the B, A, S, and I all lead up to the C—community involvement.
One of the first things we need to consider about our community is our role—both what the Bible says is and isn’t our area of concern. Jesus helps us with a parable about wheat and weed and its explanation a few verses later (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43).
From Jesus we learn that the world was created good—that’s what God said at each day of Creation. Since the fall of man, satan has sown his evil seeds alongside Christ’s good seeds.
Our responsibility isn’t about pointing out what’s wrong in the world
It isn’t about rooting out the evil in the world
It isn’t about judging the evil or even the evildoers in the world
Our responsibility is to proclaim how good our God is
Our responsibility is to bear as much God-honoring fruit as we can
Our responsibility is to embody biblical principles and proclaim the benefits of God’s Kingdom to others
The apostle Paul helps us see our role in our community with his payer in Ephesians 1:17-20. Paul desires that we know…
The hope to which God has called us. A rock-solid, irrevocable, eternal hope!
The riches of His inheritance in His saints. The treasure is in us. We get to be God’s blessing to those around us.
God’s incomparably great power for us. We’re never lacking anything because His power is for us—God Himself is for us!
When our eyes are opened to this, we can see better how to live in our communities. God has placed us and equipped us to proclaim His glorious Gospel in our Personal Mission Field. The PMF includes places like our:
Family—John 1:35-42
Friend group—John 1:43-46
Neighborhood—Colossians 1:3-8
Workplace—Ephesians 6:5-9
How do we do this?
We talk about the daily interactions you have with Jesus—make it clear that He is a real Person with Whom you have a relationship.
We live out our biblical worldview.
We stay in fellowship with out saints so that we are sharpened and prepared to give an answer for the reason for the hope we have.
We continually monitor our conversation and attitude to make sure they are Christ-like.
Let us saints be known for what we’re for more than for what we’re against!
Instead of railing on the evil, proclaim the favor of God, proclaim the soul-satisfying joy of a relationship with Jesus, and proclaim the advantages of the Holy Spirit’s continual counsel.
If you’ve missed any of the previous messages in our series B.A.S.I.C. Christianity, you can find them all here.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Sanctification (“saint-ification”) is an ongoing process that usually involves the help of other saints. We learn this by having a biblical worldview (that’s the “B”), being accountable with saints (“A”), and serving the Body of Christ (“S”). These are the things that bring out increased fruitfulness in our lives, make us more joy-full people, and enhance our testimony to others.
What a blessing it is to be involved in all of these saint-ification things alongside other brothers and sisters. Isn’t nice to know that you’re not all alone on your journey?
Two brothers walked up the hill to the park every afternoon to play baseball. One day a neighbor who lived near the bottom of the hill saw the younger brother pulling his older brother up the hill in a wagon. He observed this for a couple of days before he finally asked what was going on.
The younger brother said, “My big brother broke his leg so I pull him in the wagon so he can watch us play baseball and can be our coach.”
“He must be heavy,” the neighbor replied.
“He’s not heavy,” the little boy said, “he’s my brother!”
In the first brothers that the Bible shows us, we see the origin of the phrase “brother’s keeper.” Cain was jealous of the way God was blessing his younger brother, and so he murdered Able. God came to Cain and asked him, “Where is your brother Able?”
Cain responded with another question, “Am I my brother’s keeper?” (Genesis 4:9).
The word brother is someone connected to me by blood or some other common bond. Cain used the same word for brother but then asked if He was supposed to be his brother’s keeper—his guard, helping to keep him in bounds, celebrating his victories.
The clear teaching of Scripture is that the answer to Cain’s question is an emphatic “Yes!”
That definition of brother’s keeper sounds a lot like the definition of an intercessor. In the Hebrew, that word mean to go to God on someone else’s behalf (Genesis 25:21; 2 Samuel 24:25). The Greek of the New Testament sounds more intense (hyperentygchano): to meet a person of the purpose of conversation in behalf of someone else.
Remember that the Hebrew word for brother was pretty narrow? The Christians in the New Testament took the word for relative-by-blood (adelphos) and made it a synonym for fellow saint, regardless of where they are from (Acts 9:17; 2 Corinthians 13:11).
John used Cain’s misunderstanding of brother’s keeper to show us the spiritual responsibility we have to our adelphos (1 John 3:12, 15-16).
When we intercede for our adelphos—our fellow saints—we are participating in the same work as both the Spirit and Jesus (Romans 8:26-27, 34;Hebrews 7:25; 1 John 5:16).
A couple of weeks ago we looked at Philemon’s service to the Body of Christ. Look at how Paul’s intercession may have released Philemon to do this (Philemon 7, 16, 20).
As Paul said to Philemon, I say to you—
I appeal to you on the basis of love: Be your brother’s keeper!
Guard your adelphos, keep them in bounds, and celebrate both their righteousness and God’s blessing on their lives.
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
Last week we were reminded that sanctification (or as I call it “saint-ification”) is an ongoing process that usually involves the help of other saints. There is something else we need to do with other saints: serve them.
We are all a part of the same Body so it is beneficial for the whole Body if we care for every part of the Body (1 Corinthians 12:25 AMPC; Ephesians 5:30).
In order to serve others, we are going to have to check our attitude. We have been called to have the attitude that Jesus had about the Church (Ephesians 5:29; Philippians 2:3-7; John 13:3-5, 14-17).
We must all know:
I have a gift—notice the phrase each of you in 1 Peter 4:10
I must use my gift to serve the Body of Christ (Luke 17:10)
In the early Church, we see so much togetherness that they rewrote the definition of the Greek word koinonia (see Acts 2:42). Here’s what koinonia looks like in the Church:
(1) Testifying in church (Psalm 40:9-10 NLT)
(2) Being present with saints outside of church. From Acts 20-28, the pronouns “we” and “us” are used over 80 times! Paul was blessed simply by Luke being with him, just as saints are blessed when you are truly with them.
(3) Love notes when a saint is absent. The apostle John was brilliant at this. Look at his three epistles:
dear children 9x in 1 John
chosen / dear lady 2x in 2 John
dear friend 4x in 3 John
(4) Hospital-ity whenever it’s needed. Be a place of healing and refreshment for the saints God has placed in your life, just as Philemon did (Philemon 2-7, 22).
What a testimony it is when we live this way (Romans 12:10, 13)!
Remember the saint-ification process brings fruitfulness, joy-fullness, and an enhanced testimony. I love this quote from Richard Stearns, “The beautiful simplicity of our faith is that it distills down to the exact same bottom line for both the brilliant theologian and the five-year-old child: love God and love each other—period. Everything else derives from that.”
Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible.
The definition of salvation comes from Romans 10:9. When we believe in our heart that Jesus paid the penalty for our sins and we confess that with our mouth, we are now justified. I can now stand before God just as if I had never sinned. But the Christian life is more than merely going to heaven at some point. It’s about glorifying God and pointing others to Jesus while we’re on our way to heaven.
Paul wrote to saints in Corinth (1 Corinthians 1:2; 2 Corinthians 1:1) but he also called them “mere human beings” in 1 Corinthians 3:1-3. Paul points out that there is a difference between viewing this life from a worldly viewpoint and a biblical viewpoint (2 Corinthians 5:16).
A naturalistic world view is constantly shifting as new discoveries are made. A biblical worldview knows there is nothing new under the sun, that everything is addressed in Scripture.
In order to not view this world through the lens of “mere human beings” we have to read, study, meditate on, and apply the whole counsel of God’s Word. We put it in and the Holy Spirit helps us live it out. Just like our prescription glasses won’t do a thing to correct our vision of they aren’t on our face, Scripture won’t help us navigate this world in a God-glorifying way if we haven’t put it in our heart.
Each day before I ready my Bible I pray Psalm 119:18, which asks the Holy Spirit to open my eyes to the amazing things in Scripture. I read, I journal, and I pray over the passage that I have read. Then the Holy Spirit makes good application of that Scripture (John 14:26, 16:13; 1 John 4:6). I want to be sure to read the whole counsel of God’s Word, not just cherrypicking my favorite parts. And I always want to be going deeper (Hebrews 6:1).
One place that we see contrasting world views—the natural worldview versus the biblical worldview—is in 2 Timothy 2:14-19.
Natural worldview #1—quarreling about words
Biblical worldview #1—correctly handling the Word of truth
Natural worldview #2—engaging in godless chatter
Biblical worldview #2—standing on the firm foundation of Scripture
The results of a biblical worldview are amazing:
A sure foundation (Matthew 7:24-27)
The attention of others (Matthew 7:28-29)
Useful treasures to share with others (Matthew 13:52)
A strong defense against critics (Acts 6:9-10; Psalm 119:99)
Let’s not get stuck in the “mere human being” level of a natural worldview, but let’s commit to studying our Bibles diligently so that the Holy Spirit can develop a robust biblical worldview in us. This worldview is fruitful, joyful, and enhances our testimony.
Follow along with all the other messages in our series on B.A.S.I.C. Christianity by clicking here.
When someone invites Jesus into their heart, they are immediately justified in God’s sight and have the assurance of Heaven as their eternal home. But then the question comes, “Now what?”
Our justification is immediate but our sanctification is an ongoing, lifelong process. Sanctification is what brings fruitfulness to a Christian’s life and what allows that fruitful life to be a testimony to others. The Bible gives us the B.A.S.I.C.s of this Christian life, and that’s what we will be exploring over the next few weeks.
God in the Dock is quite a challenging read, but it has an amazing payoff for those who will persevere to grasp the immense intellect of C.S. Lewis. You can check out my full book review here.
“The miracles in fact are a retelling in small letters of the very same story which is written across the whole world in letters too large for some of us to see. Of that larger script part is already visible, part is still unsolved. In other words, some of the miracles do locally what God has already done universally: others do locally what He has not yet done, but will do. In that sense, and from our human point of view, some are reminders and others prophecies.”
“Men look on the starry heavens with reverence: monkeys do not. The silence of the eternal spaces terrified [Blaise] Pascal, but it was the greatness of Pascal that enabled him to do so. …If the world in which we found ourselves were not vast and strange enough to give us Pascal’s terror, what poor creatures we should be! Being what we are, rational but also animate, amphibians who start from the world of sense and proceed through myth and metaphor to the world of spirit, I do not see how we could have come to know the greatness of God without that hint furnished by the greatness of the material universe. Once again, what sort of universe do we demand? If it were small enough to be cozy, it would not be big enough to be sublime. If it is large enough for us to stretch our spiritual limbs in, it must be large enough to baffle us. Cramped or terrified, we must, in any conceivable world, be one or the other. I prefer terror. I should be suffocated in a universe that I could see to the end of.”
“The doctrines that God is love and that He delights in men, are positive doctrines, not limiting doctrines. He is not less than this. What more He may be, we do not know; we know only that He must be more than we can conceive. It is to be expected that His creation should be, in the main, unintelligible to us.”
“Christianity does not replace the technical. When it tells you to feed the hungry it doesn’t give you lessons in cookery. If you want to learn that, you must go to a cook rather than a Christian. If you are not a professional Economist and have no experience of Industry, simply being a Christian won’t give you the answer to industrial problems.”
“That definite distinction that Christians make between hating sin and loving the sinner is one that you have been making in your own case since you were born. You dislike what you have done, but you don’t cease to love yourself. You may even think that you ought to be hanged. You may even think that you ought to go to the Police and own up and be hanged. Love is not affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.”
“Now as myth transcends thought, Incarnation transcends myth. The heart of Christianity is a myth which is also a fact. The old myth of the Dying God, without ceasing to be myth, comes down from the heaven of legend and imagination to the earth of history. It happens—at a particular date, in a particular place, followed by definable historical consequences. We pass from a Balder or an Osiris, dying nobody knows when or where, to a historical Person crucified (it is all in order) under Pontius Pilate. By becoming fact it does not cease to be myth: that is the miracle. I suspect that men have sometimes derived more spiritual sustenance from myths they did not believe than from the religion they professed. To be truly Christian we must both assent to the historical fact and also receive the myth (fact though it has become) with the same imaginative embrace which we accord to all myths. The one is hardly more necessary than the other.”
“We are defending Christianity; not ‘my religion.’ When we mention our personal opinions we must always make quite clear the difference between them and the Faith itself. St. Paul has given us the model in 1 Corinthians 7:25: on a certain point he has ‘no commandment of the Lord’ but gives ‘his judgement.’ No one is left in doubt as to the difference in status implied.”
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Craig T. Owens 